Reality Blindness
Luke • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 2 viewsIn this message, we will consider how being convinced we know the truth can make us closed minded even when the truth is right before us.
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Introduction:
Introduction:
For this week, we will look at three examples in Luke of reactions to Jesus (Two negative, one positive).
Luke does more than explain the coming judgment of God upon Jerusalem and the Jewish people.
He explains why that judgment was coming.
He also explores what motivates people to reject Jesus’ person.
He demonstrates this at the individual level and also at the town/city level.
"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." (Tolstoy, Anna Karenina).
We could modify this and say all believers are alike in our trust in Jesus, but not all unbelievers remain so for the same reasons.
We need to match our expectations of the world with the teaching of the Word of God.
We also need to think clearly about Jesus’ person.
God invites us to consider, weigh the evidence.
Tonight’s study is governed by Luke 3:23.
The Setting: Lk. 4:16-21
The Setting: Lk. 4:16-21
Luke now places Jesus in the synagogue in Nazareth where he was raised.
Because Jesus had grown up in the synagogue in Nazareth, and thus “belonged to it,” he could stand up to volunteer for the role of “Maphtir” or reader in the lesson on the prophets (Pentecost, 139).
Readings from the Bible took place in cycles according to the seasons, and Jesus apparently was in the synagogue during the season of reading from the prophets.
There might have been a reading from the law because Jews were in the habit of reading through the Torah each year.
Jesus did not read a passage assigned to him. Instead, he intentionally found Is. 61:1-2 and Is. 58:6.
These verses claim:
God’s spirit is on someone.
Forgiveness and liberation are part of the message.
This is not just about freed from a foreign power. It is also about God’s forgiveness given to Israel to make possible such a time as Isaiah describes.
Jesus sat, as the person in authority would do, and taught the meaning of the passage.
Jesus may have given a full exposition of these scriptures, but Luke only records the part relevant for his narrative.
Jesus taught that He is the person to whom Isaiah referred.
He is the servant of God who has come to provide spiritual liberation for Israel.
A Disturbing Dialogue: Lk. 4:22-27
A Disturbing Dialogue: Lk. 4:22-27
Luke now shows the reaction of the crowd to Jesus’ last statement about the Isaiah passage. Will they accept that He is the Messiah?
The people respond with a simple question.
See Lk. 4:22.
In light of Jesus’ response to this question, we cannot see this as a positive reaction by the people.
They know his explanation of Is. 61:1-2, and especially its application to himself, cannot be right because they know who he is.
Jesus now exposes them to be intractable unbelievers.
The response that “he is Joseph’s son” illustrates the inherent unbelief to be found in that statement.
He cannot be the Messiah because they know him to be Joseph’s son. Isn’t that right?
“Physician heal yourself” is not a plea or a request. It is a complaint.
It is a call for additional proof.
The evidence in Capernaum is not enough for them. If Jesus’ really cared about them, he would give them additional evidence.
The evidence in Capernaum will be enough to overcome the truth they really know about Jesus.
Shouldn’t he do, at least, the majority of his miracles for his hometown?
He is Joseph’s son no matter what they may have heard that he has done.
Continued unbelief is a refusal to embrace reality (no matter where the evidence may point).
Jesus then drives the point home using biblical evidence about Elijah and Elisha.
Jesus is claiming to be more than a prophet, but the point is still good.
It fits with a point Jesus will raise in Lk. 11:51. Jesus’ own generation participates in the deeds of their forebears, and worse. They will reject the Messiah.
An Eye-Opening Reaction: Lk. 4:28-30
An Eye-Opening Reaction: Lk. 4:28-30
The biblical evidence incites the people to violence.
They throw Jesus out of the synagogue and city.
Note the picturesque language Luke uses in Lk. 4:29.
They intend to kill him.